Summary: 1 of ? Luke records prophetic events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist. God’s ‘guidance’(1:79) has been realized or brought to fruition. ?How is God’s guidance realized? God’s guidance is realized thru a Prophetic...

The REALIZATION Of GOD’s GUIDANCE-I—Luke 1:57-80

Attention:

The following is just a short testament to a lack of lasting peace among God’s people, Israel:

Some 30 years after the death, burial, resurrection, & ascension of Jesus Christ, the Jewish temple was decimated by the Roman occupiers of Israel in 70AD, after ~130years of Roman occupation. Within the context of the events that Luke records here— John the Baptist’s birth, the children of Israel would have already been under the yoke of Roman control & occupation for ~60 years.

After Alexander the Great’s death & the divvying up of Grecian control in the world, the Jews, under Judas Maccabeus, had began a revolt against the Syrian ‘Seleucids’(Greeks) ~166BC. The ‘Seleucids’ had controlled Israel from ~198-163BC. And before that time, the Egyptian ‘Ptolemaic Kingdom’(also Greeks) had maintained control of Israel from ~331-298BC.

Just prior to that, the Greeks had began making influential inroads into areas outside of Greece proper, under Alexander the Great.

Prior to that, Jerusalem had begun to be restored ~538BC, after the Jews had been given permission to return to their land, by the Persian(Iran), Cyrus The Great. They returned to their land only after having been exiled to various places for 70years within the boundaries of the huge empire controlled by the Babylonians(~586-539BC).

And prior to the Babylonians, the Assyrians had occupied the Northern Kingdom of Israel(~722-630BC) & exiled Israel among Assyrian-controlled lands.

The people & nation of Israel, has only rarely been able to experience political peace. And so, they have only rarely been able to be full partakers of God’s perfect GUIDANCE.

But God ensured that His people would be aware of the arrival of His GUIDANCE, which would come thru His promised Messiah, or rather thru the One Who would be the actual EMBODIMENT of God’s GUIDANCE & PEACE, Goodness & Grace.

All people stand in need of realizing that God has made His ‘GUIDANCE’ AVAILABLE for any & everyone!

And that ‘GUIDANCE’ ultimately comes to a person thru their personal trust in Jesus, recognizing Him as their personal Savior & Lord of their life.

And God’s ‘GUIDANCE’ manifests itself thru our ministering to one another, & to those lost to Christ, as well as to those saved in Christ.

Need:

To really KNOW the direction you should take in any endeavor you undertake, is something you can WILLINGLY DISCOVER. And that discovery will give a beautiful clarity to your life;

OR, to really KNOW the direction you should take in any endeavor you undertake, is something you can AVOID altogether. Willingly avoiding that direction, leaves your life devoid of real answers to the most troublesome questions of life.

GOD’s ‘GUIDANCE’ is really available for & to everyone! But it is up to every individual as to whether they will accept what God has done thru Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah, the Shalom/Peace of God.

Luke records prophetic events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist.

The means towards God’s ‘guidance’(1:79) was realized thru the birth of John the Baptist.

God’s ‘guidance’(in the way of peace) has been realized or brought to fruition.

But:

?How is God’s guidance realized or brought to fruition?

6 realizations bringing God’s guidance to fruition.

1—God’s guidance is realized thru a Prophetic...

BIRTH(:57-58)

Explanation:(:57-58)

:57—“Now Elizabeth’s full time came for her to be delivered, & she brought forth a son.”

Mary, a relative of Elizabeth(:36) had stayed with “Elizabeth” for 3 months(:56), until “Elizabeth’s” 9th month of pregnancy(cf.-:26, 36). Mary returned home just prior to the “delivery” of “Elizabeth’s” child(:56).

Then the “full time” came for “Elizabeth” to ‘give birth’(“be delivered”)

When “Elizabeth” gave birth, she “brought forth a son.”

•That “Elizabeth” would “bring forth a son” had been foretold to “Elizabeth’s” husband, Zacharias, by the angel, Gabriel(1:13, 19).

:58—“When her neighbors & relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.”

Elizabeth’s “neighbors & relatives heard” of the “mercy” that the Lord had extended to Elizabeth(:25).

•Though she had been in seclusion for the 1st 5 months(:24) of her pregnancy, others knew that her pregnancy was of “the Lord.”(:22)

Verse :58 tells us that others, specifically among her “neighbors & relatives” had “heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her”, & so they were “rejoicing with” Elizabeth.

?Was their joy because of the fact that Elizabeth was pregnant?...Yes! She had formerly been barren(unable to bear a child).

?Was their joy because she was pregnant with the herald to Jesus?...Possibly!

?Did they fully understand all the ramifications of these events?...No!

But they they would soon find out that God was working in & thru Zacharias & Elizabeth, in ways that would be difficult to comprehend. Keep in mind that you & I can read ahead to know the full story. But in the moment that the event were taking place, there was a great deal of controversy caused by ignorance of the ramifications of the events.

Argumentation/Illustration:

Gen. 18:10, 13-14—“And He[the LORD] said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, & behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)”..... “And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, & Sarah shall have a son.””

Gen. 21:1-3—“And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, & the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived & bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him--whom Sarah bore to him--Isaac.”

Lk. 1:13—“But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; & your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, & you shall call his name John.”

Num. 23:16-20—Oddly enough, YHWH-God spoke thru Balaam the wayward/perverse prophet—“Then the LORD met Balaam, & put a word in his mouth, & said, “Go back to Balak, & thus you shall speak.” So he came to him, & there he was, standing by his burnt offering, & the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the LORD spoken?” Then he took up his oracle & said: “Rise up, Balak, & hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, & will He not do? Or has He spoken, & will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, & I cannot reverse it.”

Application:

?Are YOU a recipient of God’s guidance thru John’s Prophetic BIRTH?

?Is God’s guidance realized in YOU?

2—God’s guidance is realized thru a Prophetic...

RITUAL/CUSTOM(:59)

Explanation:(:59)

:59a—“So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child;...”

It was customary for “Zacharias” & Elizabeth “to circumcise” their newborn “child” “on the eighth day” after the child’s birth.

•“The eighth day” was specified in the Jewish law, as the time when every male child, would have been presented before the priest, who would then “circumcise” “the child.”

•The rite of male Circumcision was initiated by God, as a sign of his covenant with Abraham(Gen. 17:7-14)

Gen. 17:9-14—“And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you & your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me & you & your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; & you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, & it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me & you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house & he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, & My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.””

•Prior to that “eighth day” & beyond it, Elizabeth, the mother, would have been in the process of fulfilling the Jewish ceremonial rite for her cleansing, that was required for those women who had given birth.

•Lev. 12:2-4—“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a woman has conceived, & borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity she shall be unclean. ‘And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. ‘She shall then continue in the blood of her purification thirty-three days.[40days total]. She shall not touch any hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled.”[40days total]

Women who gave birth to female children were initially considered unclean for 14 days, & they remained in their ‘unclean’ status for 66 days total(Lev. 12:5).

So at the time that “they came to circumcise the child”, apart from that “eighth day” alone, Elizabeth would have been considered ‘unclean’, & so she would have been prevented from approaching the temple complex.

•So “they”—the circumcising entourage—, must have come to “Zacharias’” & Elizabeth’s home.

“They”—obviously consisted of the extended families involved; along with the direct & indirect connections with the Jewish priests, as well as with the Jewish Sanhedrin(the Jewish religious leaders who determined & enforced civic adherence to the law),

•We see a similar ceremonial adherence with Mary, after giving birth to Jesus....

•Luke 2:21-23—“And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed[40days], they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the LORD”).”

:59b—“...& they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias.”

All in attendance for circumcision & naming ceremony, were going to name the boy “Zacharias” after his father.

“To choose a name after a” firstborn son’s “grandfather or father,” was only natural & traditional, “especially if one of them was highly esteemed.”—Walter L. Liefeld in EBC(1984)

God can use our RITUALS...our Christian CUSTOMS, to bring His truth into our lives.

Argumentation:

The Old Testament contains the details of God’s Law for the Jews. Some of it is merely ceremonial. And some of it is to be practiced outright. All of it is practical, IF & only IF, it is applied with full knowledge given by God thru Jesus Christ. All of it was meant to be personally applicable for & thru the Jews.

Rom. 3:19-20—“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, & all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

Rom. 7:5-13—“For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit & not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived & I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, & by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, & the commandment holy & just & good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.”

Jn. 4:21-22—YET, Jesus informed the Samaritan woman at the well,—“Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.”

Illustration:

We Baptists have many ‘rituals’ or ‘customs’ we entertain. But by-&-large, we do NOT look on the performance of those ‘rituals’ or ‘customs’ as a means of our personal or church-wide recognition before God.

We like to think that our ‘rituals’ or ‘customs’ are evangelical &/or informative in nature. We do certain things on Sundays—like the format of our Sunday morning services. At Salem we have Sunday School or Bible Study at 8:45am. Following that, we have a ‘worship service’ where we loosely follow an ‘order or worship.’ We might use computerized visual helps, in the form of lyrics, Scripture, & videos, we might have special guest speakers, &.or singers, &/or testimonies, special offerings, special emphases, etc.

We want to minister the Good News of Jesus, to a gathering of God’s people. We ALSO want to minister the Good News of Jesus to a world that is lost in sin & without hope in the world.

*What gets any person &/or church in trouble, is when those things that are freely chosen Rituals & Customs, become perverted & perceived by some individuals, as REQUIREMENTS for drawing people close to God!

Prophetic RITUAL/CUSTOM

?What is God saying to you thru our RITUALs or CUSTOMs of this church’s gathering today?

Application:

?Are YOU a recipient of God’s guidance thru Prophetic RITUAL/CUSTOM?

?Is God’s guidance realized in YOU?

CONCLUSION:

Visualization:

God has made His GUIDANCE available to & for all people thru & in Christ Jesus.

Action:

God’s guidance is realized thru a Prophetic...

1. BIRTH(:57-58)

2. RITUAL/CUSTOM(:59)

Pnt#s 1-2 presented 10/19/2025am to:

Salem Baptist Church

1618 Salem Road

Bennettsville, SC 29512